By Carrie James
As a district overall, the eighth-grade math assessment passing rate dropped 5 points to 46 percent, and the English language arts assessment passing rate fell 4 points to 57 percent. Still, both were above the state average.
The biggest surprise, district officials said, was with Woodland Middle School's scores. Only 41 percent of eighth-graders passed the New York State Mathematics Assessment test given last May, an 8-percent drop. The same occurred with the New York State English Language Arts Assessment; only 56 percent passed, a 9-percent drop from the previous year. In both cases, Clarke Middle School's scores either stayed the same or increased slightly.
"To tell the truth, we were a little surprised," said Dr. Kathleen Gooding, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "The programs at the two schools are equal. They both received the same new math textbook. At both schools the curriculum has been aligned with the state standards. We offered test-preparation courses at both schools."
Since the East Meadow School District received their test results, Gooding and other members of the curriculum and instruction team have started an analysis, trying to figure out what happened, why it happened and how to improve.
Some factors have already surfaced that might have influenced the test scores. High on that list is the large number of tests eighth-graders are required to take during the last couple months of school, Gooding said.
Eighth-graders must take six assessment tests: the state Math Assessment, state English Language Arts Assessment, state Science Assessment, state Social Studies Assessment, a technology assessment and the Languages Other Than English Proficiency Test. Honors students have an even heavier burden, Gooding said, because they also take the science Regents test, and math honors students take a district math exam as well.
"Taking eight tests between May and June, the sense was that was too much," Gooding said of the honors students, adding that six is too many for the general population as well. "So, this year, we are offering the option to seventh-grade math honors students to take the eighth-grade assessments at the end of the year. It's a new option that the state has given to districts. In reality, they have completed the eighth-grade curriculum at the end of seventh grade, so it makes sense."
Another possible issue is that students at Woodland Middle School didn't take as much advantage of academic-intervention programs, namely the test-preparation courses, which might have better prepared them for the two assessment tests.
While both Clarke and Woodland had the same number of test-preparation courses offered, fewer students at Woodland took advantage of them, said Woodland Principal Jack Lenson. So few in fact, that some sessions were canceled owing to the lack of interest.
"We started test-preparation courses earlier this year," he said. "One of the disappointments I have is that kids who are targeted for that don't attend them."
For the math assessments, Lenson said, school officials are focused on continuing to improve mathematical "literacy." The eighth-grade assessments don't involve just computation anymore. Now, students have to glean information from long passages to complete a problem and then verbally explain how they came to their answer.
"Students have to be able to understand the problem and describe the process of how they came to their conclusions," he said. "It's not new in that it just came this year, but it's new within the last two to three years. We have trained our teachers on mathematical literacy, and we are continually working to improve."
There are other possible factors affecting Woodland's scores, such as a higher number of English as a Second Language students, transient rate and student population, but Gooding said these are not conclusive yet since the analysis isn't complete.
"We don't know why yet," she said. "We are in the process of doing an analysis of the students and the students' test scores."
The analysis should be complete by the end of November or early December, said Rita Mattus, the East Meadow district's principal for academic instruction. After completion, school officials will have a better idea of what needs to be implemented to help students perform better on the state assessment tests.
District officials point out, however, that this is just one test, and overall the district is performing well. More than 90 percent of students are graduating, despite the fear fewer would under an all-Regents program. The passing percentage for the fourth-grade assessments is well into the 90s. And Gooding continues to commend the schools, teachers and innovative programs
for providing East Meadow children with a well-rounded education.
As for Woodland Middle School, Lenson said his staff is working hard and will try to find ways to raise the bar on the upcoming tests this spring.
"Frankly, I don't know why there was a disparity," he said. "I do know we have an excellent group of teachers. We're working very hard as a department. We're looking at the data to find what are those areas that are students are not doing well in and how we can help them."
